Indian shuttlers on a roll, in QF
CLEAN SWEEP India hammer Maldives 50, will now take on Indonesia to decide who tops Group D
NEWDELHI: Wednesday turned out to be a good day for Indian shuttlers as both their men’s and women’s teams progressed to the quarter-finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Alor Setar, Malaysia. A day after routing Philippines 5-0, the Indian men’s team continued their red-hot form as they achieved another clean sweep by thrashing Maldives 5-0 at the Stadium Sultan Abdul Halim.
By virtue of their two wins, India progressed to the quarterfinals. They will now take on badminton powerhouse Indonesia, who have also qualified for the last eight, in their third and final Group D clash.
The winning team will top the group as Philippines and Maldives will face each other in a dead rubber, with both having being eliminated. World No 5 Kidambi Srikanth led the charge for India, easily outplaying Shaheed Hussein Zayan 21-5, 21-6 in 19 minutes in the first men’s singles match. B Sai Praneeth then took just 17 minutes to get the better of Ahmed Nibal 21-10, 21-4 to make it 2-0 for India.
The rest of the tie followed a similar script as Sameer Verma toyed with Mohamed Arsalaan Ali 21-5, 21-1 to beat Maldives 3-0. Whatever the outcome of the next two matches, India had won the tie by now.
Then in men’s doubles too, India hardly broke a sweat. In the first doubles match, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Shaheed Hussein Zayan and Shaheem Hassan Afsheem 21-8, 21-8 before MR Arjun teamed up with Shlok Ramchandran to tame the pair of Mohamed Arsalaan Ali and Ahmed Nibal 21-2, 21-5 in only 13 minutes — the shortest contest of the tie.
India will face real competition when they take on Indonesia in their final group rubber on Thursday.
WOMEN ADVANCE
The PV Sindhu-led Indian women’s team will also be in action on Thursday after edging past Hong Kong 3-2 on Tuesday.
Japan made the progression easier for India when they too defeated Hong Kong 5-0 , making India and Japan qualify for the last eight at the expense of Hong Kong from the 3-team Group W. Japan will be up against India to decide the group topper. The Badminton Asia Team Championships is a qualifier for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup with the semifinalists earning the right to play in Bangkok in May.